Slavenka Drakulić is a notable Croatian journalist, novelist, and essayist whose first novel S. (also known as As If I Am Not There) has the rare distinction of being a work of translated fiction by a woman that's included in 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die. Goodreads tells me that she has been recognised as one of the most influential European writers of our time. She writes both fiction and non-fiction, exploring political and ideological issues of the communist and post-communist era, war crimes and the female body. Having now read her fifth novel, a fictionalised study of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, I would suggest that she's also interested in forms of courage and endurance that we might not always recognise.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a well-known self-taught Mexican artist:
[She] painted many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist.
Kahlo's work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and Indigenous traditions, and by feminists for what is seen as its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. (Wikipedia, viewed 7/3/18, edited to remove hyperlinks).
Drakulić, however, explores the relationship between Kahlo's physical suffering and her art. Kahlo was disabled by childhood polio and then by an horrific accident when she was a teenager. She endured numerous operations and suffered constant pain throughout her life - but in this novel she is shown to have transcended the limitations of her body through courage and endurance that is more commonly ascribed to men.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/03/07/fridas-bed-by-slavenka-drakulic-translated-b... ( )

If you don't already know Frida Kahlo's story or her art, this is not the place to start. I picked up this book because I like her art and wanted to know more about her. But the time shifts and change of narrator, especially, had me confused until I was more than halfway through this short book. I might have liked this as a short story; but even this slim volume was too much gloom. ( )

a easy and good read about frida kaho's life, its a novel told by frida as she is on her death bed ( )

What a stunning work of fiction! The odd time that I have encountered Frida Kahlo's art, I have looked at it with my head tilted sideways trying to see inside the mind of the artist behind the work. Drakulic has accomplished what I couldn't.... she has given voice in her novel to Frida's inner mind, the pain that demonized her life, and her resilience and overall strength of will to carry on when others would have shriveled up in a corner in the fetal position and cried "enough!"

Drakulic's uncompromising novel, caressingly tender at times, searingly blunt at other times, focuses on Frida's last day, her dying thoughts, the poignant memories of her life, her family and her love for Diego Rivera, the "Maestro" of Mexico, and her lovers, including Tolstoy.

Yes, this is a work of fiction. Even so, I felt that Drakulic did an amazing job conveying the chronic pain Frida endured, at six when she was struck with polio and the pain that would follow her through the rest of her life after surviving a bus/trolley car accident in her late teens that resulted in a broken spinal column, collarbone, ribs, pelvis, eleven fractures to her right leg and impalement by a broken handrail. The impalement is just too horrific to go into here. The memories told in the story have a candid, reflective quality to them.

Interspersed in the story are descriptions of some of Frida's portraits/paintings. I enjoyed reading the book and viewing Frida's art, and in particular her various self portraits, in a whole new light. A truly amazing, brilliant mosaic of Frida's life. ( )

This book touched me deeply as I am nearing the end of my life as a result of metstatic cancer. I am also bipolar and have dealt with thoughts of suicide, depression and mania. It's not a pretty book to read if you've not come to some acceptance of your terminal condition, but I see it as a good choice for people who've come to terms with death. I intend to share it with my counselor in hopes that she can use it for others like myself. ( )